Frustrated by a lack of informed and honest review websites covering a wide range of electronic music, I write them myself.

Sunday, July 1, 2018

ACE TRACKS: June 2018

So this past month hasn't been the most active with regards to reviews, not even cracking the twenty-mark. Whatever has caused this plunge in productivity, you may wonder. Has the uncertainty of continued gainful employment sent my psyche into chaotic disarray? Perhaps a comparatively dreary June has sent me into a depressive sickness and funk? Or maybe those weekly bonus mini-reviews over on my Patreon have eaten more free writing time than I could have ever predicted? None of the above, I say!

Truth is, I've been distracted by something far more insidious, a Real Time Strategy game. Yes, I decided to dust off the ol' Rise Of Nations, and let me tell you, if you've ever played it (or it's genetic ancestors Age Of Empires and Civilization), it can be one serious time sink of an experience. Single battles aren't that big a deal, as they last no longer than ninety minutes anyway. No, what truly eats into your life are the Conquest Modes, five different campaigns where you get to... TAKE OVER THE WORLD (you heard it in the voice, admit it!). By adding Risk elements to the whole experience, you can spend whole days retracing the steps of Alexander and Napoleon, or take control of a Native American civilization to expunge European invaders from your lands (or vice-versa, if you must), not to mention a good ol' Cold War extravaganza (yay Nuclear Armageddon!). It's a very addictive, very time-consuming game, is what I'm saying. AND THEN there's the time spent watching various Let's Plays of Rise Of Nations, just to see if there's some tips or tricks I might have missed. I've concluded that, while everyone of these players are good, they all seem to miss a couple things that could have made their games much easier (does no one know about the TAB hotkey, seriously!??) Overall, there's never enough hours in the day, just never enough. But hey, here's some ACE TRACKS from June at least.

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 9% Percentage Of Rock: 0% Most “WTF?” Track: 9mm Goes Bang, at least as an opener.

Ah, this was a much smoother, flowing alphabetical playlist. Probably helps there's a hefty chunk of Werkstatt material on here, so a little synth- pop/wave homogeneity is present. The few detours into techno, breaks, rap, and trance at least help keep things spicy.